Image processing apparatus and image processing method

ABSTRACT

Viewability is improved creating more reliable visual recognition of an image including a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image to clearly distinguish a copy and an original being displayed for preview. An image processing apparatus produces data of a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image that is added to an image to be output for printing and comprises a latent image and a background image. The apparatus includes: a display unit for displaying an image; and a display control unit for distinctively displaying images, on the display unit, in a first display state displaying the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image and in a second display state in which a display mode of at least one of the latent image and the background image of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image differs from a display mode of the image displayed in the first display state.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 10/959,873filed on Oct. 6, 2004 which claims priority to Japanese PatentApplication Nos. 2003-352978 and 2003-352979 filed Oct. 10, 2003 andJapanese Patent Application No. 2004-224783 filed Jul. 30, 2004, all ofwhich are hereby incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and animage processing method. More particularly, in a system comprising animage processing apparatus, e.g., a personal computer, and a printingdevice, e.g., a printer, the present invention relates to a process ofpreviewing a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image that is used toclearly distinguish a copy and an original from each other.

2. Description of the Related Art

Hitherto, sheets of paper including special prints made on them, calledforgery-inhibited sheets, have been used for the purpose of prohibitingor inhibiting copying of specific sheets, resident cards and so on. Theforgery-inhibited sheet prints on it a string of characters, e.g.,“COPY”, in such a way that the characters are hard to visually recognizein an original sheet, but they appear on a copied sheet when theoriginal sheet is copied by a copier or the like. This enables a printsheet, as an original, to be easily visually discerned from a copyobtained by copying the original. The use of those forgery-inhibitedsheets is effective in promoting hesitation about using of the copies.Also, there is a psychological checking effect of inhibiting an actionof copying itself. The reason why a string of characters are made hardto visually recognize on an original forgery-inhibited sheet resides inenabling an original and a copy to be clearly distinguished from eachother. If a character string, e.g., “COPY”, is clearly visuallydiscernable on the original, the original would be possibly recognizedas a copy, and the effectiveness of forgery-inhibited sheets would belost.

Wicker (U.S. Pat. No. 5,788,285) and Mowry et al. (U.S. Pat. No.6,000,728) disclose techniques for use in producing theforgery-inhibited sheets.

However, because the forgery-inhibited sheets are produced by usingspecial printing techniques, the sheet cost is higher than ordinarysheets. Another problem is that it is only possible to make onlycharacters or the like appear after copying, which were set inproduction of the forgery-inhibited sheets. Accordingly, the range inuse of the forgery-inhibited sheets and a character string set forprinting on them is restricted. Stated another way, knownforgery-inhibited sheets are poor in flexibility in use due torestrictions in production of the sheets.

On the other hand, with the progress of conversion of various contentsinto digital data, contents of specific sheets, resident cards, etc. arealso converted into digital data. However, the digitization in handlingof the digital data, i.e., in utilization of specific sheets, residentcards, etc., still remains in a transient stage. In practical use,therefore, contents of digital data prepared using computers are outputonto sheets by, e.g., a printer in many cases.

Under such situations, due to recent drastic development of printerperformance, attention is paid to the on-demand printing technique thatemploys a computer and a printer to print sheets having a similar effectto that of known forgery-inhibited sheets. Japanese Patent Laid-OpenNos. 2001-197297 and 2001-238075 disclose techniques for outputting animage, called a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern in a background of thecontents data in superimposed relation when contents data prepared usinga computer is output for printing by a printer. On an original (printedoutput from the printer), the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image lookslike a mere pattern or background when viewed by human eyes, but appearson a copy as predetermined characters, for example, when the original iscopied. As a result, a similar checking effect to that of theforgery-inhibited sheets can be developed to check persons trying tocopy the original.

When outputting a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image prepared using acomputer in superimposed relation, ordinary print sheets or the like areusable. Therefore, the cost performance is higher than the case usingthe forgery-inhibited sheets. Furthermore, the copy-forgery-inhibitedpattern image can be formed at the same time as printing the contents.This feature realizes free setting of characters, etc. to be visualizedwhen the original is copied. Still another advantage is that dynamicinformation, such as the name of a user having executed the printing andthe output date, can also be allowed to appear as a string ofcharacters.

As described above, when an original is copied, thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern is intended to visualize predeterminedcharacters that were not discernable before the copying, in a copy, andto provide the effects of inhibiting the use of the copy and enablingthe relevant sheet to be easily visually recognized as not an original,but a copy. To develop those effects, the copy-forgery-inhibited patternimage basically comprises two areas: (1) an area where, after copying,an image remains (appears) on a copy, and (2) an area where an imagedisappears on a copy or its density is reduced as compared with theimage of the former area to such an extent that the image in the latterarea is hard to recognize. These two areas have substantially the samedensity in the state as it is after printing. Looking at a print(original) from the macroscopic viewpoint, an observer cannot recognizethat a character string, e.g., “COPY”, to be visualized upon copying isconcealed (buried). Looking it from the microscopic viewpoint, i.e.,from a level of print dots, however, the two areas have differentcharacteristics as described below.

For convenience of description, an image appearing after copying isreferred to as a “latent image” hereinafter and an image disappearing orbecoming paler after copying is referred to as a “background image”hereinafter. The copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image basicallycomprises the latent image and the background image. In some cases, thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image further includes a camouflageimage. The latent image is sometimes called a foreground image.

Copy-forgery-inhibited pattern printing is not limited to theabove-described case, and is applicable so long as a character string(e.g., “COPY”), a logo, a pattern or the like appears (or is visualized)on a copy in a form recognizable by human eyes. In other words, theintent of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern printing is achieved evenwhen the character string, e.g., “COPY”, appears on a copy in the formof hollow-space characters. In this case, the character string of “COPY”is formed as a background image.

In an electrophotographic or ink-jet dot printer, the area where animage remains on a copy (i.e., the latent-image area or theforeground-image area) is constituted by a set of concentrated dotmasses. Also, the area where an image disappears on a copy or an imageis reproduced at a lower density than that in the area where an imageremains (i.e., the background-image area) is constituted by a set ofdistributed dots. Further, in the state of the copy-forgery-inhibitedpattern image being printed, those two areas are formed substantially atthe same density so that the density of the entirecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image is almost uniform.

FIG. 27 shows those two areas. As shown in FIG. 27, thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image comprises the background-image areawhere dots are distributed and the latent-image area where dots areconcentrated into masses. These two areas can be produced by usingdifferent types of halftone dot processes or different types of ditherprocesses.

When a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image is produced by the halftonedot process, the halftone dot process using a small number of lines issuitable for the latent-image area, and the halftone dot process using alarge number of lines is suitable for the background-image area. When acopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image is produced by the dither process,the dither process using a dot-concentrated-type dither matrix issuitable for the latent-image area, and the dither process using adot-distributed-type dither matrix is suitable for the background-imagearea.

Generally, a copier has a limit point in the reproducing performancethat depends on an input resolution in reading minute dots of a documentand an output resolution in reproducing the minute dots. When dots inthe background-image area of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern imageare formed in a size smaller than the limit-point size at which dots arereproducible by the copier and dot masses in the latent-image area areformed in a size larger than the limit-point size, an image of large dotmasses in the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image is reproduced on acopy and upon copying, an image of small dots is not reproduced on thecopy. As a result, a latent image is visualized on the copy. Even whenthe distributed small dots do not completely disappear after copying andform the image at a lower density after the copying than the imageformed by the concentrated dot masses, the latent image can benoticeably recognized in a relative sense.

FIGS. 28A and 28B show visualization of a latent image. FIG. 28Arepresents a state that a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image has beenprinted. FIG. 28B represents a copy obtained by copying a printed sheetof FIG. 28A by a copier. As seen in FIGS. 28A and 28B, after thecopying, a latent image formed by a set of concentrated dot massesappears, but a background image formed by distributed dots disappears.

It is well known that the so-called “camouflage” technique is alsoapplied to the process of forming a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern imagefor making it harder to recognize the presence of a latent image buriedin an original. As used herein, “camouflage” refers to a technique forarranging a pattern with a density different from those of thelatent-image area and the background-image area in an overlap relationto the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image. In thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image formed using the camouflagetechnique, a camouflage image with a density different from those of thelatent-image area and the background-image area is more conspicuous inthe original, while the latent image is less correspondingly noticeablein the original. The camouflage image has another effect of giving anadditional aesthetic impression to a print.

FIG. 29A shows a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image without acamouflage image. FIG. 29B shows a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern imagewith a camouflage image. When forming a camouflage image, dotsconstituting the camouflage image are desirably not reproduced on a copyso that a latent image visualized on the copy upon copying can be easilyrecognized. This point can be realized by forming the camouflage imageas a hollow-space image, for example, as shown in FIG. 29B.

In printing of data, such as a document or an image, by a printingdevice, e.g., a printer, the print preview function is known to displayan image, which is to be printed, on a screen for presentation to a userbefore actually printing the data on a sheet. With the print previewfunction, the user is able to check the printed image and to confirm adesired layout, etc. When data is printed along with acopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image, it is conceivable to similarlyconfirm based on the print preview function whether thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image is correctly added to contents of asheet that is to be output for printing.

In the print preview function, however, because the image to be outputfor printing is displayed on a screen of a display device, the printimage is generally displayed in a size smaller than that actuallyprinted on a print medium, such as a sheet of paper. This leads todifficulty in recognizing the preview display of thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image. One reason causing such adifficulty is that the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image is itselfdisplayed in a small size. Further, for scaling-down of an image, theimage is processed by a method accompanied with a partial loss of imageinformation, such as data thinning-out. Therefore, another problem isthat even when the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image or a latentimage and a background image thereof are separately displayed, it is noteasy to visually confirm the images. In other words, because thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image, i.e., the latent image and thebackground image (including a camouflage image as required), areinherently formed to make it harder to distinguish the latent image andthe background image from each other, a difficulty in visuallyconfirming the images with preview display may increases. These problemsare described in more detail below.

Generally, the resolution of a display device is lower than theresolution of a printer or the reproduction resolution of a copier.Also, with the print preview function, the image to be printed isdisplayed on a screen of the display device in a smaller sheet displayarea, and the print image displayed in that smaller area has a lowerresolution. For that reason, the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image isdisplayed through a scaling-down process. This leads to the followingproblems. First, the background image formed by high-density minute dotsand the latent image formed by low-density dot masses often haverespective densities different from their original ones. Second,respective contours of the latent image and the background image areoften deformed to some extent.

Known algorithms for the scaling-down process are based on simplethinning-out of pixels, the logical sum of nearby dots, the logicalproduct of nearby dots, etc. FIG. 30 shows examples in which acopy-forgery-inhibited pattern (dot data) 3701 is scaled down to a ½size in accordance with each of those three algorithms. A pattern 3702shows a step in the course of scaling-down by the simple thinning-out.With this algorithm, in the case of ½ scaling-down, the original pattern3701 is divided in units of a 2×2 small area, and a scaled-down image isformed by collecting only an upper left dot in each small area. Apattern 3703 represents a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern resulting afterthe ½ scaling-down by the simple thinning-out of dots.

A pattern 3704 shows a step in the course of scaling-down by the logicalsum and the logical product of nearby dots. As with the simplethinning-out, in the case of ½ scaling-down, the original pattern 3701is divided in units of a 2×2 small area surrounded by thick lines. Then,the logical sum or the logical product is computed for dots in eachsmall area, thereby successively deciding each dot after scaling-down.The illustrated example represents the case in which the logicaloperation is executed based on the RGB expression. A pattern 3705represents the result obtained after the ½ scaling-down of the pattern3701 by the logical product algorithm, and a pattern 3706 represents theresult obtained after the ½ scaling-down of the pattern 3701 by thelogical sum algorithm.

As is apparent from those scaling-down results, the obtained patternsdiffer from the original pattern 3701 at a microscopic levelcorresponding to a dot array. Also, with the scaling-down based on thelogical sum and logical product of nearby dots, the number of white orblack areas is increased. Particularly, discrete dots as a feature ofthe copy-forgery-inhibited pattern are all lost with the scaling-downbased on the logical product. Further, in the case of the simplethinning-out, large dots and small dots distinguishable from each otherin the original copy-forgery-inhibited pattern 3701 are no longerdistinguishable.

Stated another way, a change of the pattern and a change of the dotdensity at a microscopic level appear at a macroscopic level, at whichthe user views the image displayed on the display device, such thatrespective contours of the latent image and the background image aredeformed and respective densities of both the images are changed.

Thus, when the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image or the latent imageand the background image thereof are displayed on a previewer as theyare, it is difficult for the user to confirm whether printing isperformed with a proper process of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern.

Even when the display device has a high resolution and an image isdisplayed by simple scaling-down without the pixel reducing process,such as thinning-out, there is a problem. Specifically, because of thedisplay area having a small size in itself, when thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image or the latent image and thebackground image thereof are displayed on a previewer as they are, it isnot easy to visually confirm those images that are inherently hard todiscern.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided animage processing apparatus for producing data of acopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image comprising a latent image and abackground image. The apparatus includes: a display unit for displayingan image; and a display control unit for distinctively displayingimages, on the display unit, in a first display state displaying thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image and in a second display state inwhich a display mode of at least one of the latent image and thebackground image of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image differsfrom a display mode of the image in the first display state.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is providedan image processing apparatus including: a data producing unit forproducing print data including a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern imagewhich indicates that, when a print having the print data printed thereonis copied, a copy obtained by copying the print differs from the print;a display unit for displaying the print data; and a control unit forcontrolling a display, on the display unit, of a print image in a staterepresenting the print and a copy image in a state representing thecopy.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, there isprovided an image processing method for producing data of acopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image comprising a latent image and abackground image, the method includes: displaying a first image, on thedisplay screen, in a first display state displaying thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image; and displaying a second image, onthe display screen, in a second display state in which a display mode ofat least one of the latent image and the background image of thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image differs from a display mode of thefirst image in the first display state.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, there isprovided an image processing method including: producing print dataincluding a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image which indicates that,when a print having the print data printed thereon is copied, a copyobtained by copying the print differs from the print; and displaying theprint data as a display of a print image in a state of the print and acopy image in a state of the copy.

Further features and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments withreference to the attached drawings, in which like reference charactersdesignate the same or similar parts throughout the figures thereof.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a print system according to one embodimentof the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing one configuration of a print processexecuted by a host computer shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing another configuration of the printprocess executed by the host computer, which is an extended one of theconfiguration shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a print setting screen.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a preview screen displayed by a printpreviewer.

FIG. 6 shows an example of a data format of copy-forgery-inhibitedpattern image print information.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a setting screen of thecopy-forgery-inhibited print function.

FIGS. 8A and 8B show an example of a dialog for editing individualdetailed settings in copy-forgery-inhibited pattern printing.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an example of a copy-forgery-inhibitedpattern image producing process.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing another example of acopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image producing process.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing an example of a copy-forgery-inhibitedpattern drawing process.

FIG. 12 shows a display example provided by the print previewer.

FIG. 13 shows another display example provided by the print previewer.

FIG. 14 is an illustration for exemplifying display operation.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing a process for the display operation.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing a latent-image turned-on state displayprocess in the display operation.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing a latent-image turned-off state displayprocess in the display operation.

FIG. 18 shows steps of the latent-image turned-off state display processand respective images.

FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing a process of displaying a printed outputimage, including a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image, according to asecond embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing details of a copy-forgery-inhibitedpattern image previewing process of FIG. 19.

FIG. 21 illustrates examples of the display mode decided in FIG. 20.

FIG. 22 is an illustration for explaining another example of the displaymode decided in FIG. 20.

FIG. 23 is a flowchart showing display operation control shown in FIG.22.

FIG. 24 shows a display example provided by a setting change editor forcausing a user to recognize that the copy-forgery-inhibited patternprinting is set in print jobs.

FIG. 25 shows another display example provided by the setting changeeditor for causing a user to recognize that the copy-forgery-inhibitedpattern printing is set in print jobs.

FIG. 26 is a flowchart showing details of a process of previewing aprinted output image, including a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image,according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 27 is an illustration showing two areas of a copy-forgery-inhibitedpattern image, i.e., a latent image and a background image.

FIGS. 28A and 28B are illustrations for showing visualization of thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image.

FIGS. 29A and 29B are illustrations for showing camouflage in thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image.

FIG. 30 shows examples in which the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image(dot data) is scaled down to a ½ size in accordance with threealgorithms.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below withreference to the drawings.

FIGS. 1 to 18 illustrate a system comprising an information processingapparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention whichincludes a host computer, and a printing device, e.g., a printer. FIGS.1 to 18 illustrate not only a configuration of the system, which isrelated to a print process and creation of drawing data for acopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image, but also a configuration as abasis for explaining several display examples (described later) of thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image according to the present invention.The system configuration, as a basis for displaying thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image, is described next with referenceto the drawings.

In this embodiment, an area where an image is visualized on a copy uponcopying is called a latent-image area or a foreground-image area. Also,an area where an image disappears or becomes paler on a copy than theimage in the latent-image area after copying is called abackground-image area. Then, text information, such as “COPY” or “VOID”,is input in the latent-image area. However, the copy-forgery-inhibitedpattern image in the present invention is not limited to such a case,and the text information may be expressed (visualized) on a copy ashollow-space characters relative to a surrounding image. In this case,as a matter of course, the relationship between concentration anddistribution of dots with respect to the latent-image area and thebackground-image area is reversed from the relationship in the case thatthe text information is displayed as solid characters instead ofhollow-space characters. Also, the present invention is not restrictedbased on the type of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image, theprocess of producing it, color, shape and/or size of the image.

Configuration of Print System

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a print system according to one embodimentof the present invention. The present invention is applicable to anytype of print system that is constituted by a single unit or a pluralityof units, or which executes processing under connection to an externalunit via a network, such as a local area network (LAN) or wide areanetwork (WAN).

Referring to FIG. 1, a host computer 3000 incorporates a centralprocessing unit (CPU) 1 for controlling execution of a document processfor processing documents in which figures, images, characters, tables(including spreadsheets), etc. are mixed, and a print process based onthe result of the document process. The document process includesvarious types of processing related to various examples of the presentinvention described later. The CPU 1 supervises control of all devicesconnected to a system bus 4. The program ROM in the ROM 3 or theexternal memory 11 stores an operating system (OS) program, i.e., acontrol program for the CPU 1, etc. A font ROM in the ROM 3 or in theexternal memory 11 stores font data for use in the document process,etc. A data ROM in the ROM 3 or in the external memory 11 stores variousdata for use in the document process, etc. A random-access memory (RAM)2 functions as a main memory, a work area, etc. for the CPU 1.

A keyboard controller (KBC) 5 controls key-inputs from a keyboard 9 or apointing device (not shown). A cathode ray tube (CRT) controller (CRTC)6 controls display of a CRT display (CRT) 10, including display of acopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image. A disk controller (DKC) 7 controlsaccess to the external memory 11, such as a hard disk (HD), a floppydisk (FD) or the like, which stores a boot program, variousapplications, font data, a user file, an edit file, a printer controlcommand producing program (hereinafter referred to as a “printerdriver”), etc. A printer controller (PRTC) 8 is connected to a printer1500 via a bi-directional interface (I/F) 21 and executes acommunication control process with respect to the printer 1500.

In addition, the CPU 1 executes a process of developing (rasterizing) anoutline font onto, e.g., a display information RAM set in the RAM 2, forrealizing WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) on the CRT 10. Also,the CPU 1 opens various registered windows in accordance with commandsinstructed from, e.g., a mouse cursor (not shown) on the CRT 10, andexecutes various types of data processing. When starting to executeprinting, a user opens a window for print setting and sets a printprocess method for the printer driver, including printer setting andselection of the print mode.

The printer 1500 is controlled by a CPU 12 incorporated therein. Theprinter CPU 12 outputs an image signal, as print output information, toa print unit (printer engine) 17 via a print unit interface 16, which isconnected to a system bus 15, in accordance with a control program, etc.stored in a program ROM in a ROM 13 or an external memory 14. Theprogram ROM in the ROM 13 also stores a control program for the CPU 12,etc. A font ROM in the ROM 13 stores font data for use in producing theprint output information, etc. In the case of a printer that does notinclude external memory 11, such as a hard disk, a data ROM in the ROM13 stores information for use in the host computer, etc.

The CPU 12 is able to communicate with the host computer 3000 via aninput unit 18, and therefore to notify the host computer 3000 ofinformation in the printer, etc. A RAM 19 functions as a main memory, awork area, etc. for the CPU 12. The memory capacity of the RAM 19 isextensible with an option RAM connected to an add-on port (not shown).The RAM 19 is used as, for example, an output information developmentarea, an environment data storage area, and a non-volatile random-accessmemory (NVRAM). Access to the external memory 14, such as a hard disk(HD) or an integrated circuit (IC) card, is controlled by a memorycontroller (MC) 20. The external memory 14 is connected as an option andstores font data, an emulation program, form data, etc. An operatingunit 1501 serves as a control panel on which switches, light emittingdiode (LED) indicators, etc. are provided for input operation.

The external memory 14 may be provided in plural instead of being one sothat a plurality of options, such as an option card for supplementaladdition to built-in font and an external memory storing a program forinterpreting printer control languages of different language systems,can be connected to the printer. Further, a not-shown NVRAM may be addedto store printer mode setting information input from the control panel1501.

A print unit 17 includes an electrophotographic engine in thisembodiment. Therefore, a print image and an accompanyingcopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image are expressed by toner dots formedin accordance with print data of those images. The printing method usedin the present invention is not limited to the electrophotographic type,and the present invention is also applicable to any type of printingdevice in which an image is printed with formation of dots, e.g., theink jet type.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing one configuration of a print processexecuted by the host computer 3000 shown in FIG. 1. An application 201,a graphic engine 202, a printer driver 203, and a system spooler 204 areeach a program module that is present as a file in the external memory11 and is loaded into the RAM 2 for execution by the OS or a moduleutilizing the relevant program module when executed. The application 201and the printer driver 203 can also be stored in an HD in the externalmemory 11 from an FD or some other removable media, such as a compactdisk-read-only memory (CD-ROM) (not shown) in the external memory 11 orvia a network (not shown). The application 201 stored in the externalmemory 11 is loaded into the RAM 2 for execution. When printing isperformed on the printer 1500 from the application 201, print data isoutput (drawn or rendered) using the graphic engine 202 which issimilarly loaded into the RAM 2 and held in an executable state.

The graphic engine 202 loads the printer driver 203, which is preparedfor each printing device, such as a printer, into the RAM 2 from theexternal memory 11, and sets an output of the application 201 in theprinter driver 203. Then, the graphic engine 202 converts GDI (GraphicDevice Interface) functions received from the application 201 into DDI(Device Driver Interface) functions, and outputs the DDI functions tothe printer driver 203. In accordance with the DDI functions receivedfrom the graphic engine 202, the printer driver 203 performs conversioninto control commands, e.g., PDL (Page Description Language),recognizable by the printer. The converted printer control commands areoutput, as print data, to the printer 1500 via the interface 21 throughthe system spooler 204 loaded in the RAM 2 under control of the OS.

The print system in this embodiment includes a copy-forgery-inhibitedpattern processing unit 205 in the printer driver 203. Thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern processing unit 205 may be a built-inmodule in the printer driver 203, or a library module added by separateinstallation. In printing of a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image, theprinter driver 203 executes processes (described later), such ascreation of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image, with the aid ofthe copy-forgery-inhibited pattern processing unit 205.

Software Modules Related to Printing

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing another configuration of the printprocess executed by the host computer 3000, which is an extended one ofthe configuration shown in FIG. 2. In this configuration, when printcommands are sent from the graphic engine 202 to the printer driver 203,a spool file 303 made up of intermediate code is temporarily produced.In the configuration of FIG. 2, the application 201 is released from theprint process at the time when the printer driver 203 has completelyconverted all print commands from the graphic engine 202 into printercontrol commands. On the other hand, in the configuration of FIG. 3, theapplication 201 is released from the print process at the time when aspooler 302 has completely converted all print commands intointermediate code data and has output it to the spool file 303. Usually,the latter process is finished in a shorter time. Furthermore, theconfiguration of FIG. 3 enables the contents of the spool file 303 to beprocessed. It is therefore possible to execute the functions notincluded in the application, such as scaling-up/down and printing ofplural pages scaled down into one page, for the print data from theapplication. To that end, the system configuration of FIG. 3 is extendedfrom that of FIG. 2 so as to realize the spool function with the aid ofintermediate code data. Incidentally, when the print data is processed,it is usual that print setting is made on a window presented by theprinter driver 203, and the printer driver 203 holds the contents of theprint setting in the RAM 2 or the external memory 11.

The configuration of FIG. 3 is described in more detail below. In thisextended process, as shown in FIG. 3, a dispatcher 301 receives DDIfunctions, i.e., print commands, from the graphic engine 202. When theprint commands (DDI functions) received by the dispatcher 301 from thegraphic engine 202 are based on print commands (GDI functions) issuedfrom the application 201 to the graphic engine 202, the dispatcher 301loads the spooler 302, which is stored in the external memory 11, intothe RAM 2 and sends the print commands (DDI functions) to the spooler302 instead of the printer driver 203.

The spooler 302 analyzes the received print commands and converts theminto intermediate code data per page, which is output to the spool file303. The spool file of the intermediate code data stored per page iscalled a page description file (PDF). Also, the spooler 302 obtains,from the printer driver 203, process setting (such as Nup, double-sided,staple, and color/monochrome designation) which are set for the printerdriver 203, and it stores them in the spool file 303 as a file per job.This setting file stored per job is called a job setting file (or SpoolDescription File (SDF)). The job setting file is described in moredetail later. While the spool file 303 described above is produced as afile in the external memory 11, it may be produced in the RAM 2.Further, the spooler 302 loads a spool file manager 304, which is storedin the external memory 11, into the RAM 2 and notifies the spool filemanager 304 of a status in creation of the spool file 303. Then, thespool file manager 304 determines whether printing can be performed inaccordance with the contents of the process setting for the print datastored in the spool file 303.

When the spool file manager 304 determines that the printing can beperformed by employing the graphic engine 202, it loads a despooler 305,which is stored in the external memory 11, into the RAM 2 and instructsthe despooler 305 to start a print process of the page description fileof intermediate code data described in the spool file 303.

The despooler 305 processes the page description file of intermediatecode data, which is described in the spool file 303, in accordance withthe job setting file containing the process setting information, whichis included in the spool file 303, in order to reproduce the GDIfunctions. The reproduced GDI functions are output again via the graphicengine 202. On that occasion, for the copy-forgery-inhibited patternimage, the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern processing unit 205 is loadedto execute a process of producing the copy-forgery-inhibited patternimage.

When the print commands (DDI functions) received by the dispatcher 301from the graphic engine 202 are based on print commands (GDI functions)issued from the despooler 305 to the graphic engine 202, the dispatcher301 sends the print commands to the printer driver 203 instead of thespooler 302. In accordance with the DDI functions obtained from thegraphic engine 202, the printer driver 203 produces printer controlcommands in the page description language, etc. and outputs them to theprinter 1500 via a system spooler 204.

In the example shown in FIG. 3, in addition to the above-describedextended system, a previewer 306 and a setting change editor 307 areprovided to perform the print preview including preview of thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image, change of the print setting, andjoining of plural jobs. In order to perform the print preview, change ofthe print setting, and joining of plural jobs, the user firstdesignates, in a screen of printer driver property, such as the oneshown in FIG. 4, “store” in a pull-down menu 901 that is a means for“designating output destination”. When the user wants to look only atthe preview, “preview” may be selected as designation of the outputdestination.

Thus, the contents set in the printer driver property are stored as asetting file in a structure provided by the OS, for example, thestructure is called DEVMODE in the Windows® OS. The process settingcontained in the spool file 303, which is stored in the structure,includes, e.g., setting indicating whether “store” is made in the spoolfile manager 304. The spool file manager 304 reads the process settingvia the printer driver. If “store” is designated, the page descriptionfile and the job setting file are produced and stored in the spool file303 as described above. Then, a window screen of the spool file manager304 is popped up and the jobs spooled in the spool file 303 aredisplayed as a list.

When preview of a single job or a joint job is designated on the windowscreen of the spool file manager 304, the spool file manager 304 loadsthe previewer 306, which is stored in the external memory 11, into theRAM 2 and instructs the previewer 306 to execute a preview process forthe job of intermediate code, which is described in the spool file 303.

Previewer

The previewer 306 successively reads a page description file (PDF) ofintermediate code, which is described in the spool file 303. Then, thepreviewer 306 processes the read file in accordance with the contents ofthe process setting information contained in the job setting file (SDF),which is stored in the spool file 303. Further, the previewer 306outputs GDI functions to the graphic engine 202, and the graphic engine202 outputs drawing data to its own client area, thus resulting in astate capable of outputting the data on the screen.

The graphic engine 202 is able to execute proper rendering depending onthe designated output destination. As with the despooler 305, thepreviewer 306 can realize the preview process by a method of processingthe intermediate code included in the spool file 303 in accordance withthe contents of the process setting information included in the spoolfile 303, and outputting the processed data by utilizing the graphicengine 202. Thus, the process setting information set by the printdriver is stored as the job setting file in the spool file 303, and dataof the page description file is processed and output in accordance withthe job setting file. As a result, the print preview close to the imageoutput by the printer can be provided to the user depending on not onlyhow actual drawing data is to be printed, but also the case that Nupprint (in which N logical pages are printed at scaling-down into onephysical page) is designated, the case that double-sided print isdesignated, the case that binding print is designated, and the case thatstamp is designated. In contrast, because the preview function providedin ordinary application software for producing, e.g., a document, drawsan image in accordance with only the page setting made in the relevantapplication, the print setting set by the printer driver is notreflected and hence the user cannot recognize a preview that is actuallyoutput for printing.

By executing the preview process as described above, a preview imagereflecting the print process setting included in the spool file 303 isdisplayed on the screen by the previewer 306. FIG. 5 shows an example ofa preview screen displayed by the previewer 306. When the user printsthe image in accordance with the contents displayed by the previewer306, a print command is issued by instructing “print” or “save andprint” on the spool file manager 304. In response to the print command,as described above, the despooler 305 processes the page descriptionfile in accordance with the job setting file so as to produce GDIfunctions, which are sent to the graphic engine 202. Then, printcommands are sent to the printer driver 203 via the dispatcher 301 andprinting is executed.

Preview display related to printing of the copy-forgery-inhibitedpattern image according to this embodiment of the present invention isdescribed in detail below.

Description of Copy-Forgery-Inhibited Pattern Image Producing Process

FIGS. 7 and 8 show examples of a user interface for selecting settingsrelated to the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image producing process.

FIG. 7 shows an example of an initial screen of the user interface forthe copy-forgery-inhibited pattern printing, the interface beingprepared in the printer driver 203. In this example, a property sheet2101 in a dialog (box) can be used for setting thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern printing.

A check box 2102 is used for designating, with respect to the print job,whether the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern printing (i.e., printingincluding the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image) is performed. Styleinformation 2103 is selected for enabling plural items of settinginformation for the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern printing to bedesignated by one identifier (style). The print driver 203 is able toselect any one among a plurality of styles, and the relationship betweeneach style and copy-forgery-inhibited pattern print information shown inFIG. 6 is registered in a registry. Also, when a button 2104 isdepressed, a style edit dialog 2201 shown in FIG. 8A is displayed. Acheck box 2105 is used for adjusting foreground and background contrastsin the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern printing. When a button 2106 isdepressed, a contrast setting screen (not shown) is displayed.

FIG. 8A shows an example of a dialog for editing individual detailedsettings in the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern printing.

FIG. 8A shows a dialog 2201 for editing copy-forgery-inhibited patterninformation. In an area of this dialog, a result of thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image produced based on individual itemsof the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern information is displayed for thepurpose of preview. An area including a list of styles 2202 selectablein 2103 of FIG. 7 is displayed. Any desired style can be newly added orerased by using buttons 2203 and 2204, respectively. An area displayingthe current style name 2205 is displayed.

A radio button area 2206 is provided for selecting the type of a drawingobject used in the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern printing. When abutton “character string” is selected (in the radio button area 2206), atext object is used, and when a button “image” is selected (in the radiobutton area 2206), an image data represented by, e.g., BMP, is used.Since “character string” is selected in FIG. 8A, setting informationregarding the text object is displayed in the dialog 2201. Thisinformation includes selection of text 2207, font 2208 and size 2209. Onthe other hand, when “image” is selected in the radio button area 2206,the selection fields for text 2207, font 2208 and size 2209 are notdisplayed, but, as shown in FIG. 8B, an image file name field 2215 and abutton 2216 for displaying a file selection dialog (not shown) aredisplayed instead.

An area 2207 for displaying and editing a character string used as thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image and an area 2208 for displaying andediting font information of the character string are provided. Whilethis embodiment employs a screen for selecting only the font name, thescreen may be extended to be capable of selecting font familyinformation (such as bold and italic), decorative character information,etc. An area 2209 for displaying and setting a font size of thecharacter string used as the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image isalso provided. While this embodiment assumes that designating the fontsize is one of three sizes, i.e., “large”, “medium” and “small”, anyother general font-size designating method, e.g., a method of directlyentering a point number, may be used instead. A radio button area 2210is provided for setting a sequence in which the copy-forgery-inhibitedpattern image and the document data are combined with each other. When abutton “transparent print” is selected, the copy-forgery-inhibitedpattern image is first developed and the document data is then writtenover it in the actual image combining step. When a button “overlapprint” is selected, the document data is first developed and thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image is then written over it in theactual image combining step. A radio button area 2211 is provided fordesignating an angle at which the input character string is arranged.While three arrangements, i.e., “ascend rightward”, “descend rightward”and “horizontal”, are selectable in this embodiment, the angledesignating method may be extended such that a numeral entry area isprovided to be capable of designating any angle, or that a slider bar orthe like is provided to be capable of designating a desired angle in anintuitive way. An area 2212 for displaying and designating a color usedas the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image is provided. A check box2213 for replacing a foreground pattern and a background pattern isprovided. Depending on this check box 2213, printing is controlled suchthat when the check box is not checked, the foreground pattern appearsafter copying, and when it is checked, the background pattern appearsafter copying. An area 2214 is provided for designating a camouflageimage that makes it harder to recognize the character string, etc.buried in the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image. The camouflage imageis selectable from among a plurality of patterns. An option notemploying the camouflage image is also provided.

Data Format of Copy-Forgery-Inhibited Pattern Print Setting Information

The copy-forgery-inhibited pattern print setting information, mentionedabove with reference to FIG. 8, is described below with reference toFIG. 6.

The copy-forgery-inhibited pattern print setting information is held asa part of a job output setting file holding information thereinconstituting a physical page that has been produced by the spool filemanager 304 and brought into a printable state.

Referring to FIG. 6, a field 2001 stores a value that is designated inthe area 2206 of FIG. 8A and indicates an object type (text format orimage) to be drawn by the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern printing. Afield 2002 stores the setting information for the drawing objectdesignated by the information in the field 2001 based on the settinginformation designated in the areas 2207 to 2209 in FIG. 8A or the areain FIG. 8B. When text is selected, the field 2002 stores the characterstring, the font name, and the size information. When image is selected,the field 2002 stores the location of an image file to be input. Basedon information designated in area 2210 of FIG. 8A, a field 2003 storesthe information indicating, for the document data, whether thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern printing is printed first or later (i.e.,print sequence). A field 2004 stores the information regarding the angleat which the drawing object is oriented based on the angle informationdesignated in the area 2211 of FIG. 8A. A field 2005 stores theinformation regarding the color used in the copy-forgery-inhibitedpattern image based on the color information designated in the area 2212of FIG. 8A. A field 2006 stores the information indicating whether theforeground pattern and the background pattern are replaced based oninformation designated in the check box 2213 of FIG. 8A. A field 2007stores the pattern additive information for a camouflage image based oninformation designated in the area 2214 of FIG. 8A. A field 2008 storesthe density information of the foreground pattern. A field 2009 storesthe density information of the background pattern.

Process of Producing Print Data Added with Copy-Forgery-InhibitedPattern Image

FIGS. 9 and 10 are each a flowchart showing a flow of the print dataproducing process in the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern printing, andcorresponding respectively to “transparent print” and “overlap print”described above with reference to FIG. 8A.

FIGS. 9 and 10 represent the process of producing the print datatransmitted to the printer. In this embodiment, the process of combiningthe document data and the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image data witheach other is not executed at this stage. When producing a previewimage, a combined image is formed on the host computer unlike thefollowing process of producing the print data.

First, “transparent print”, i.e., the case of drawing first thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image, is described with reference to theflowchart of FIG. 9. In step S1901, the copy-forgery-inhibited patternimage is drawn in accordance with the information, shown in FIG. 6,regarding the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern. A detailed process of thisstep is described later with reference to FIG. 11. Then, a drawing(rendering) process for the document data is executed. In step S1902, acounter is initialized. In step S1903, it is determined whether thecounter indicates the preset number of logical pages per one physicalpage. If the counter value is equal to the preset number of logicalpages, the process of FIG. 9 ends. If the counter value is not equal tothe preset number of logical pages in step S1903, the control flowproceeds to step S1904 where the counter is incremented by one. Next, instep S1905, an effective print area for the logical page to be drawn iscalculated based on both the number of logical pages per one physicalpage and the counter value. In step S1906, the current logical pagenumber is read from the physical page information with the counter valuebeing an index, and the relevant logical page is drawn while it isscaled down so as to fall within the effective print area. When the Nupprint is not designated, scaling-down of the logical page is notrequired. Processing then returns to step S1903. Processing is repeateduntil the counter value is equal to the preset number of logical pages.

Next, “overlap print”, i.e., the case of drawing thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image after drawing the document data, isdescribed with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 10.

In step S1902, the counter is initialized. Then, it is determined instep S1903 whether the counter indicates the preset number of logicalpages per one physical page. If the counter value is equal to the presetnumber of logical pages, processing proceeds to step S1908, and if not,processing proceeds to step S1904. In step S1904, the counter isincremented by one. In step S1905, an effective print area for thelogical page to be drawn is calculated based on both the number oflogical pages per one physical page and the counter value. In stepS1906, the current logical page number is read from the physical pageinformation with the counter value being an index, and the relevantlogical page is drawn while it is scaled down so as to fall within theeffective print area. When the Nup print is not designated, scaling-downof the logical page is not required. After the print data correspondingto the predetermined number of logical pages for one physical page hasbeen completely produced (yes in step S1903), processing proceeds tostep S1908. In step S1908, the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image isdrawn in the effective print area of the physical page obtained from theapplication in accordance with the information, shown in FIG. 6,regarding the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern. A detailed process of thisstep is described later with reference to FIG. 11. Processing of FIG. 10then ends.

FIG. 11 is a flow chart showing details of the copy-forgery-inhibitedpattern image producing process executed in S1901 of FIG. 9 and S1908 ofFIG. 10 according to the one embodiment of the present invention. Thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image producing process is described nextwith reference to FIG. 11.

First, the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image producing process isstarted in step S2701. Specifically, a copy-forgery-inhibited patternimage producing command and the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern imageprint setting information are input to the copy-forgery-inhibitedpattern processing unit 205. Then, in step S2702, thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern processing unit 205 reads an inputbackground image, a background threshold pattern, a foreground thresholdpattern, a base image, and a camouflage image. The base image meansimage data serving as a base in producing the copy-forgery-inhibitedpattern image. The base image is produced by the despooler 305 inaccordance with the various items of setting information shown in FIG.6. Also, the input background pattern means image data providing anunderlay in drawing the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image, e.g.,image data providing a white image in its entirety. The input backgroundimage is not necessarily required.

In step S2703, the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern processing unit 205decides an initial pixel in producing the copy-forgery-inhibited patternimage. For example, when the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image isproduced in the whole print enable area of an A4-sheet by executingimage processing in sequence of raster scan from an upper left corner toa lower right corner, the upper left corner of the print enable area isset as the initial position. In this case, the print enable area isequal to an area of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image.

Then, in step S2704, the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern processing unit205 executes a process of arranging the background threshold pattern,the foreground threshold pattern, the base image, and the camouflageimage in a tile array from the upper left corner through calculationbased on the following formula (1). With this calculation, it isdetermined whether a pixel value corresponding to a dot for printing iswritten in the relevant pixel position. The pixel value corresponds tothe input color information. Here, each of the background thresholdpattern and the foreground threshold pattern means image data made up of“1” and “0” corresponding respectively to write and non-write of a dot.That image data is binary-coded data obtained by using a dither matrixsuitable for producing the foreground image (latent image) or thebackground image.NWriteDotOn=ncamouflage×(nSmallDotOn ×

nHiddenMark+nLargeDotOn×nHiddenMark)  (1)where:

-   -   nCamouflage is 0 if a target pixel in the camouflage image is a        pixel constituting the camouflage pattern, otherwise nCamouflage        is 1;    -   nSmallDotOn is 1 if the pixel value of the background threshold        pattern represents black, and nSmallDotOn is 0 if the pixel        value of the background threshold pattern represents white        (colors are not limited to black and white);

nLargeDotOn is 1 if the pixel value of the foreground threshold patternrepresents black, and nLargeDotOn is 0 if the pixel value of theforeground threshold pattern represents white (colors are not limited toblack and white);

nHiddenMark is 1 if a target pixel in the base image is a pixelconstituting the latent image, and

nHiddenMark is 0 if a target pixel in the base image is a pixelconstituting the background image; and

nHiddenMark is negation of

nHiddenMark, namely, nHiddenMark is 0 in the latent image(foreground-image area) and nHiddenMark is 1 in the background-imagearea.

It is not always required to execute the calculation using all of thecomponents of the formula (1) for each target pixel to be processed. Theprocessing speed can be increased by omitting unnecessary calculationsteps.

For example, if nHiddenMark=1,

nHiddenMark=0, and if nHiddenMark=0,

nHiddenMark=1. Accordingly, if nHiddenMark=1, a value of the followingformula (2) can be regarded as a value of nLargeDotOn, and ifnHiddenMark=0, a value of the following formula (2) can be regarded as avalue of nSmallDotOn.

Also, since a value of nCamouflage is used in multiplication applied toall of the other components as seen from the formula (1), nWriteDotOn=0if nCamouflage=0. Accordingly, if nCamouflage=0, the calculation of thefollowing formula (2) can be omitted:(nSmallDotOn×

nHiddenMark+nLargeDotOn×nHiddenMark)  (2)

Further, in the produced copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image, an imagehaving a size corresponding to the least common multiple of each ofvertical and horizontal lengths of the background threshold pattern, theforeground threshold pattern, the base image, and the camouflage imagein a tile array is a minimum unit of repetition. Therefore, theprocessing time required for producing the copy-forgery-inhibitedpattern image by the processing unit 205 can be cut by producing a partof the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image, which corresponds to theminimum unit of repetition, as a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern imageblock and then repeatedly arranging the block in a tile array so as tocover the size of a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image area.

Next, in step S2705, the CPU 1 determines the calculation result (valueof nWriteDotOn) obtained in step S2704. Specifically, if nWriteDotOn=1,the control flow proceeds to step S2706, and if nWriteDotOn=0, itproceeds to step S2707.

In step S2706, a process of writing the pixel value corresponding to thedot for printing is executed. Here, the pixel value can be changeddepending on the color of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image.Further, the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image can be produced as acolor image by setting the pixel value in match with colors of toner orink used in the printer. As an alternative, it is also possible toemploy any desired secondary color by combining several colors of toneror ink.

In step S2707, it is determined whether all of the pixels in the targetarea to be processed have been processed. If all of the pixels in thetarget area have not yet completely been processed, processing proceedsto step S2708 where a pixel not yet processed is selected. Then, theprocessing of steps S2704 to S2706 is executed again for the selectedpixel.

As a result of the process described above, the copy-forgery-inhibitedpattern image can be produced.

Thus, the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image is produced with theabove-described process. This process is common to step S1901 of FIG. 9and step S1908 of FIG. 10. The copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image dataand the document data both produced in accordance with one of the flowsshown in FIGS. 9 and 10 are transmitted to the printer and finallyoutput after being developed and combined with each other in adevelopment memory in the printer.

This embodiment enables the user to decide whether the transparent printor the overlap print is to be performed, for example, depending on thepresence or absence of a blank area or an area full of a white image inthe document data, and the application used for producing the documentdata. Consequently, an image processing apparatus that is moreconvenient for the user can be realized in relation to thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern printing.

The process of combining the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image dataand the document image data with each other into a bit map image inexecution of the printing is performed by the printer 1500. In thecombining process performed in the printer, when the overlap print isset, the document image data is first developed in a bit map memory, andthe copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image data is then developed to bewritten over the document data. At that time, if thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image data were simply overwritten, thedocument image would disappear. Therefore, in the case of the overlapprint being set, complete overwriting of the document data with thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image data is avoided by utilizinglogical rendering, such as AND/OR. For example, when a pixel of the bitmap image obtained by developing the document data has a valuecorresponding to white, the processing is executed such that the data inthe bit map memory corresponding to the relevant pixel position isoverwritten with the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image datacorresponding to the relevant pixel, and pixels having values other thanwhite are not overwritten with the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern imagedata.

Several examples of the process of previewing the copy-forgery-inhibitedpattern image are described next.

FIGS. 12 and 13 show example displays, based on the preview screen shownin FIG. 5, by the print previewer 306 (FIG. 3) according to theembodiment of the present invention. FIG. 12 shows a state in which animage to be output for printing and a latent image (character string of“VOID” ) are displayed (turned on). FIG. 13 shows the case displayingthe copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image such that the character string(VOID) turned on in FIG. 12 is expressed by hollow-space characters. Inother words, the image shown in FIG. 12 corresponds to a copy in whichthe latent image (VOID) is visualized after copying.

Further, the image shown in FIG. 13 corresponds to a copy in which thecharacter string (VOID) is made visually recognizable as hollow-spacecharacters after copying.

The copy images shown in FIGS. 12 and 13 and the image shown in FIG. 5,in which the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image is not applied, or theimage in which the latent image and the background image are bothapplied to the document data to be printed (i.e., the print image inwhich the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image is applied), aredisplayed in a switching manner at predetermined time intervals so thatthe user can recognize, with the afterimage effect of a visual sense,the latent image (character string of “VOID” ) which is not clearlydiscernable by human eyes when those images are separately displayed asthey are.

Therefore, even if the density of the latent image and/or the backgroundimage becomes lighter or the contours of those images become not soclear as a result of the display process, the user can reliablyrecognize the latent image. Particularly, the user can reliablyrecognize the latent image in relation to the image to be output forprinting. While FIGS. 12 and 13 show the examples displayed by the printpreviewer 306, it is apparent from the above description that thepresent invention is also similarly applicable to display operationexecuted by the setting change editor 307.

FIGS. 12 and 13 are illustrations of the entire preview screen. Detailsof the above-described process are provided later with reference to FIG.14.

The data for displaying the image including the copy-forgery-inhibitedpattern image is obtained by the scaling-down process based onthinning-out in accordance with one of the three algorithms describedabove with reference to FIG. 30.

FIG. 14 illustrates the above display operation and other examples ofthe display operation according to this embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 14, “(a) print image (underlay)” represents an“ellipse” that is the contents to be output for printing. When thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern printing is not set, the preview screenis displayed in the state of “print image (underlay)”.

Also, “(b) image added with the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern (latentimage turned-on)” shown in FIG. 14 is a preview screen presented whenthe copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image is added to “(a) print image(underlay)”. In this state, the character string “VOID” is reproduced.However, because the density of each of the latent image and thebackground image is set low and the contour of the latent image issomewhat blurred with the image scaling-down process, it is difficult torecognize the contents of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image evenwhen the user carefully looks at only the image (b). Particularly, whenthe size of the latent image is small, a difficulty is increased inrecognizing the latent image.

Further, “(c) image added with the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern(latent image turned-off)”, “(d) image added with thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern (latent image turned-off)”, and “(e)image added with the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern (latent imageturned-off)” shown in FIG. 14 represent respective images obtained whena process of “turning off” the latent image, i.e., a process of notdisplaying the latent image, is performed from the state of “(b) imageadded with the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern (latent image turned-on)”.More specifically, “(c) image added with the copy-forgery-inhibitedpattern (latent image turned-off)” represents the case in which thelatent image is turned off, and the background image and the print image(document image) are applied to an area of the latent image as well.Also, “(d) image added with the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern (latentimage turned-off)” represents the case in which the latent image isturned off, and neither the background image nor the document image(ellipse) is displayed in the area of the latent image. In other words,the area of the latent image is displayed to be white. Further, “(e)image added with the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern (latent imageturned-off)” represents the case in which the latent image and thebackground image are the same as those in “(d) image added with thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern (latent image turned-off)”, but thedocument image (ellipse) is further displayed in the area where thelatent image is turned off.

FIG. 13 described above corresponds to the state (e) in FIG. 14.

Thus, by switching turning-on/off of the latent image between the stateof “(b) image added with the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern (latentimage turned-on)” and the state of “(c) image added with thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern (latent image turned-off)”, “(d) imageadded with the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern (latent image turned-off)”or “(e) image added with the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern (latentimage turned-off)” at intervals of a predetermined time, the user canrecognize, with the afterimage effect of a visual sense, generalcontours of the latent image and the background image which are hard torecognize by human eyes when those images are separately displayed. Inaddition to the effect of such switching display, because “(d) imageadded with the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern (latent image turned-off)”and “(e) image added with the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern (latentimage turned-off)” are displayed in the state of the latent image being“hollow”, it is possible to more clearly recognize the latent image andthe background image in a relative sense.

Here, the time intervals in display switching, i.e., the time duringwhich “(b) image added with the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern (latentimage turned-on)” is displayed (i.e., latent image display time) and thetime during which “(c) image added with the copy-forgery-inhibitedpattern (latent image turned-off)”, “(d) image added with thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern (latent image turned-off)”, or “(e) imageadded with the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern (latent image turned-off)”is displayed (i.e., latent image non-display time), are each set to atleast such a value as enabling the user to recognize the latent image,etc. with the afterimage effect.

By performing the display operation and the display switching in such away, the user can recognize addition of the latent image and thebackground image, general contours thereof, and the relationshipsbetween these images and the printed output image. Further, since theprinted output image is not affected by turning-on/off of the latentimage, the user can satisfactorily recognize the print image.

Even in the case of “(c) image added with the copy-forgery-inhibitedpattern (latent image turned-off)” in which the latent image does notappear at all, it becomes possible to recognize the latent image itselfwith the afterimage effect by repeating the turning-on/off of the latentimage between “(c)” and “(b) image added with the copy-forgery-inhibitedpattern (latent image turned-on)”. In the case of “(d) image added withthe copy-forgery-inhibited pattern (latent image turned-off)”, thedisplay state of the latent image is significantly changed with thedisplay switching, a recognition level can be further increased.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing the process for the above-describeddisplay operation.

This process is started up in response to a display request issued forthe setting change editor 307 or the previewer 306 from the spool filemanager 304. This process is performed by the CPU 1 executing a previewdisplay program for the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image. Also, thefollowing steps are executed by the CPU 1. Instead of the CPU 1, arendering processor or the like dedicated for the preview process mayalso be used to execute this process. Further, the preview image may bedrawn (rendered) in the RAM 2 within the host computer or in anotherdedicated memory separately provided for the preview image.

In step S5501, the size of an actually displayed sheet image and thescale-down factor based on the sheet image size are calculated from thesize of a physical sheet set in the system and the display area of avirtual sheet defined by the setting change editor 307 or the previewer306. In accordance with the calculation result, an outline of theactually displayed sheet image is drawn on a screen by using thegraphics engine. In step S5502, the print image in the state of thelatent image of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image being turned onis drawn in the virtual sheet, which has already been drawn, inaccordance with the previously calculated scale-down factor, asdescribed later with reference to FIG. 16.

Then, in step S5503, the time at which the latent image is turned off(to stop display) is calculated from the current time and the latentimage display time during which the latent image is held in the displaystate. The system waits until the current time reaches the turning-offtime (step S5504). If the current time reaches the turning-off time, theprint image in the state of the latent image being turned off is drawnin the virtual sheet, as described later with reference to FIG. 17, atthe previously calculated scale-down factor (step S5505).

Then, in step S5506, the time at which the latent image is turned on iscalculated from the current time and the latent image non-display timeduring which the latent image is held in the turned-off state. Thesystem waits until the current time reaches the turning-on time (stepS5507). If the current time reaches the turning-on time, the processsubsequent to step S5502 is repeated again.

The latent image display time and the latent image non-display time maybe included in the data format of the copy-forgery-inhibited patternprint setting information shown in FIG. 6, or may be incorporated asconstant values in the program. After being started up, this process canbe brought to an end at any time when an event of ending the displayoperation of the previewer 306 or the setting change editor 307 occurs.

The display process in the latent image turned-on state is describedbelow with reference to FIG. 16. In step S5601, drawing (rendering) of adocument image (original page) to be output for printing is executed.This rendering can be made using, e.g., a development memory, in thehost computer.

Thus, in step S5601, the original page is drawn in accordance with thepreviously calculated scale-down factor while referring to the pagedescription file 303 that describes intermediate codes in the virtualsheet area. Then, in step S5602, the copy-forgery-inhibited patternprocessing unit 205 executes a similar scaling-down process to obtain acopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image. This image is drawn over theoriginal image, which has been drawn in step S5601, by using renderinglogic of AND. Finally, the image produced in step S5602 is reflected onthe screen at a time. In other words, the print image thus displayed isone directly reflecting the image actually printed on a sheet.

The display process in the latent image turned-off state is describednext with reference to FIG. 17.

First, in step S5701, the original page is drawn with the same processas in step S5601. Then, in step S5702, an intermediatecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image corresponding to one of (c), (d)and (e) in FIG. 14 is produced and drawn over the original image whichhas been drawn in step S5701. More specifically, in the case of notdisplaying the latent image, the copy-forgery-inhibited patternprocessing unit 205 produces a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern imageconstituted by only a background image and including no latent image.This image is drawn over the original image, which has been drawn instep S5701, by using rendering logic of OR. In the case of displayingthe latent-image area (e.g., character string “VOID” in the exampleshown herein) as hollow-space characters, the copy-forgery-inhibitedpattern processing unit 205 produces a copy-forgery-inhibited patternimage constituted by only a background image and including no latentimage. This image is drawn over the original image, which has been drawnin step S5701, by using rendering logic of OR. Further, thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern processing unit 205 produces acopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image in which the density of thebackground image is a maximum amount and the density of the latent imageis 0. In this image, the background area is black and the characterstring “VOID” is white. This image is drawn over the previously drawnimage by using rendering logic of AND.

In the case of displaying the original image, i.e., the underlay, in thelatent-image area, the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern processing unit205 produces a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image in which the densityof the latent-image area (character string “VOID”) is 0. In the imagethus produced, the background area is displayed as an image having beensubjected to the usual copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image processingand the latent-image area is displayed as a white image. This image isdrawn over the original image, which has been drawn in step S5701, byusing rendering logic of OR so that the original image as an underlaycan be displayed in the latent-image area. FIG. 18 shows respectivedisplay processes and images obtained in the three cases describedabove.

The produced image is reflected on the screen at a time in step S5703.The reason why the produced image is reflected on the screen at a timein each of step S5603 of FIG. 16 and step S5703 of FIG. 17 is that, ifthe image during the producing process were displayed in real time, itwould be difficult for the user to recognize the displayed image, or aquality level in recognition of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern imageand the original image would deteriorate.

By replacing the background image and the latent image with each otherin the flowcharts described above with reference to FIGS. 16 and 17, itis possible to blink the background image of the copy-forgery-inhibitedpattern image. Specifically, in each of (c), (d) and (e) in FIG. 14, thecharacter string “VOID” is always displayed (turned on) and thebackground image is turned off. This case enables two images to bepreviewed which correspond respectively to the state of a printed outputincluding the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image set such that thecharacter string is to be visualized after copying, and the state of acopy obtained by copying the printed output.

Stated another way, the preview display indicated by (d) and (e) in FIG.14 is intended to preview images corresponding respectively to the stateof a printed output including the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern imageset such that the character string appears as hollow-space charactersafter copying, and the state of a copy obtained by copying the printedoutput.

Preferably, display control is executed so as to switch theabove-described preview display in response to the presence or absenceof the check 2213 in FIG. 8. Such control can be realized with thepreview display program acquiring the information held in 2006 of FIG. 6and switching the preview execution program correspondingly.

In the above-described embodiment, the latent image and the backgroundimage of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image are rendered anddeveloped in match with respective density levels of thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image that is actually printed. In otherwords, the above embodiment is described as adding thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image of the actual setting density levelto the document image data shown at (b) in FIG. 14. Also, in (c), (d)and (e) of FIG. 14, the background image is displayed at the actualsetting density level. However, the present invention is not limited tothat embodiment, and the print process may be adjusted so as to increasethe density of the latent-image area and to reduce the density of thebackground-image area for an improvement of viewability. For example, in(b) of FIG. 14, the density of the latent-image area may be increasedfrom the actually set density level. Also, the density of thebackground-image area may be reduced from the actually set densitylevel. These adjustments may be performed separately or in a combinedmanner. Such a process can be realized by producing and displaying thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image based on the density of thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image for preview apart from the densityof the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image for printing. Further, suchcontrol is likewise effectively applied to another embodiment describedbelow.

FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing a process of displaying a printed outputimage, including a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image, according toanother embodiment of the present invention. With this display process,display switching is performed as described later with reference toFIGS. 21 and 22 so that the user can easily visually recognize thelatent image, etc. Unless otherwise specified, the following process isexecuted with the same means and functions as those in the embodimentdescribed above.

First, in step S3601, the size of a preview sheet area corresponding tothe size of a virtual sheet displayed on the print preview is calculatedfrom the sheet size of a physical page currently set by the applicationand the display enable area of the virtual sheet defined by the printpreviewer 306 (FIG. 3). Then, in step S3602, a scale-down factor iscalculated from the sheet size and the preview sheet area. Further, instep S3603, the virtual sheet is drawn in the display enable area of thevirtual sheet on the screen through the graphics engine 202, thuscausing the user to recognize the sheet displayed. In step S3604, it isdetermined whether the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern printing is setfor the current print page by the user based on the physical pageinformation produced by the spool file manager 304. If thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern printing is not set (no in step S3604),processing proceeds to step S3605, and if the copy-forgery-inhibitedpattern printing is set (yes in step S3604), processing proceeds to stepS3606.

In step S3605, intermediate code data of the logical page are drawn inthe preview sheet area through the graphics engine 202 to be displayedon the screen in accordance with the scale-down factor calculated instep S3602, taking into account other settings as well if any settingrequiring scale-up/down of the logical page, such as Nup print or posterprint, is set for the current physical page.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S3604 that thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern printing is set, whether transparentprint is designated for the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image withrespect to the print image (logical page) is determined in step S3606.Step S3606 determines a sequence in which the copy-forgery-inhibitedpattern image and the print image are arranged. Stated another way, itis determined whether the printing is designated so as to arrange thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image on the underlying side relative tothe print image (i.e., transparent print designation) or to arrange thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image on the overlying side relative tothe print image (i.e., overlap print designation).

If it is determined in step S3606 that the transparent print isdesignated for the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image, processingproceeds to step S3607 where a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern imagedrawing process is executed as described below with reference to FIG.20. Then, in step S3608, the logical page is drawn as described above inconnection with step S3605. The display process shown in FIG. 19 thenends.

If it is determined in step S3606 that the transparent print is notdesignated for the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image, i.e., if theoverlap print is designated, processing proceeds to step S3609 where theprocess of drawing the logical page is executed similarly to step S3605(described above). The copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image drawingprocess described below with reference to FIG. 20 is then executed instep S3610 and the display process of FIG. 19 ends.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing details of the preview process for thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image executed in step S3607 or S3610 ofFIG. 19.

Referring to FIG. 20, in step S1501, a thumbnail A is first preparedwhich is constituted by only a latent image pattern (latent image) ofthe copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image and which is formed by reducingthe latent image in accordance with the scale-down factor. The thumbnailA assumes a copy obtained by copying a sheet on which thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image has been additionally printed.Then, in step S5102, a thumbnail B is prepared which is an image formedas a combination of the latent image and the background image inaccordance with the scale-down factor. The thumbnail B assumes a printin the state where the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image has beenadditionally printed. It is determined in step S5103 whether thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern printing is set. If it is set, a symbolimage C of a copier reader (image scanner) is prepared in step S5104.

Processes of forming those thumbnail images are the same as those in theabove-described embodiment.

Thereafter, a mode of displaying the thumbnails A, B and the symbol C,such as described below with reference to FIGS. 21 and 22, is decided instep S5105. Depending on this decision, the display mode of thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image shown in FIGS. 21 and 22, by way ofexample, is decided. Note that, as seen from the following description,the symbol C is not used in the display mode shown in FIG. 21. Then, instep S5106, both the thumbnails are displayed in the preview area in amobile manner together with the image produced by the graphics engine202 and output for printing.

FIG. 21 illustrates examples of the display mode decided in above stepS5105.

FIG. 21 shows the state displaying an image 5201 in which the printoutput image (text) is combined with the copy-forgery-inhibited patternimage and the state displaying an image 5202 in which the print outputimage is combined with the latent image of the copy-forgery-inhibitedpattern image except for the background image. Also, the image 5202represents the state in which the latent image has appeared aftercopying a sheet on which the print output image and thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image are printed in combined relation.

In the display operation of this embodiment, as in the above-describedembodiment, the images 5201 and 5202 are displayed in a switching mannerat predetermined time intervals. Thus, the display of the image 5202enables the user to recognize the copied state of the print added withthe copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image, i.e., the relationship betweenthe latent image visualized after copying and the print output image. Asa result, the user who is going to print the copy-forgery-inhibitedpattern image together with the print output image can easily recognizethe state of a copy obtained by copying the print, thus resulting inimproved usability. In addition, as with the above-described embodiment,the user can also recognize the relationship between the latent imageand the background image in the image 5201 with the afterimage effectresulting from the display switching.

The display switching may be performed by fully turning on/off theimages 5201 and 5202 or fading them in/out at intervals of a certaintime by using a timer. When the display is switched by fully turningon/off the images 5201 and 5202, the thumbnail B is displayed over theentire preview area in step S5106 of FIG. 20, and in response to a timerevent, the thumbnail A is then displayed over the entire preview area.When the display is switched by fading in/out the images 5201 and 5202,the thumbnail B is displayed so as to gradually cover the whole previewarea from its part in step S5106 of FIG. 20, and in response to a timerevent, the thumbnail A is then displayed so as to gradually cover thewhole preview area from its part.

FIG. 22 shows another example of the display mode decided in above stepS5105.

In this example, as shown in FIG. 22, an image 5302 as a symbol of thecopier reader (scanner) is vertically moved on the preview.Correspondingly, two images 5201 and 5202 are displayed in the previewarea 5301 at the same time on the lower and upper sides of the symbolimage 5302, respectively. The contents of the images 5201 and 5202 arethe same as those shown in FIG. 21.

In this example, areas of the images 5201 and 5202 change continuouslyin sync with the vertical movement of the symbol image 5302. By properlysetting the moving speed of the symbol image 5302, therefore, it ispossible to individually recognize the latent image and the backgroundimage with the afterimage effect as described above, and to confirmappearance of the latent image gradually spreading with movement of thereader scan in the copier. Also, the moving symbol image enables theuser to easily understand that the current image is a preview of thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image, thus resulting in higheruserability. Further, the user can recognize the image of the whole pageand the contents and position of the latent image at the same time.

FIG. 23 is a flowchart for a control process of the display operationshown in FIG. 22. This process corresponds to that executed in stepS5106 of FIG. 20.

First, in step S5401, the thumbnail B is displayed in the preview area,and the system waits for a certain time. Then, in response to a timerevent, the thumbnail B is gradually rewritten (replaced), in step S5402,with the thumbnail A, which is already prepared at that time, from theupper side of the preview area. Correspondingly, the symbol C is movedso as to always position at the rewrite boundary between the thumbnailsA and B. If step S5402 is completed and the image in the preview area isall rewritten with the thumbnail A, the system waits for a certain timein step S5403 while displaying the thumbnail A. Then, processing returnsto step S5401 to repeat the rewrite process again. Finally, processingof the display operation ends in response to stop of the preview. Fromthe viewpoint of the afterimage effect described above, the time duringwhich both the thumbnails A, B are displayed in step S5402 under rewriteis preferably set longer than the time during which the system waitswhile displaying the thumbnail A, B in each step S5403, S5401.

In this embodiment described above, the state of a print added with thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image and the state of a copy of theprint are displayed by switching display on the same screen or dividingit into two display areas, but the present invention is not limited tothose application forms. For example, those two states may be displayedin two separate display areas adjacent to each other for comparativeobservation. In this case, while the afterimage effect is not obtained,the user can recognize the difference between the two images from thecomparison, and hence visually discern the presence of the latent imageand the background image in relative positional relation.

FIGS. 24 and 25 show other examples of the preview display of thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image.

FIG. 24 shows a display example causing the user to recognize that thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern printing is set in the print job preparedby the setting change editor 307. As mentioned before, because thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image is an image drawn by dots, theimage is not displayed as originally intended when thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image produced in match with the printerresolution is scaled down to be matched with the display resolution.

Meanwhile, meta data, such as EMF (Enhanced Metafile Format) and SVG(Scalable Vector Format), which is represented by, e.g., font datadescribed as a drawing data file holding graphic information therein,does not depend on resolution, and therefore does not require thereduction process, i.e., the thinning-out process necessitated from thedisplay resolution being low.

More specifically, in this example, when the user desires the previewdisplay, a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image is produced as follows.Instead of scaling down and displaying a copy-forgery-inhibited patternimage produced by the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern processing unit205, a basic image used in the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern processingunit 205 for producing the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image issubjected to processes of resolution conversion and scaling-downcorresponding to the resolution and display area of the display. Then,the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image is produced from the basicimage after being subjected to the processes of resolution conversionand scaling-down. Accordingly, the problem resulting from using, forpreview, the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image produced in match withthe printer resolution, e.g., deformation of the image contour, can beminimized.

A drawing process for preview, described below, is premised on the useof vector data (meta data). However, the user interface function forimage display switching, described below, is not limited to theparticular image data format, and the image data to be visualized may bethe copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image after being binary coded.

FIG. 25 shows another display example causing the user to more easilyrecognize that the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern printing is set in theprint job prepared by the setting change editor 307 according to thisembodiment of the present invention. In this example, a print imagebefore copying and a copy image obtained after copying the print can bedisplayed in a switching manner at the discretion of the user.

To that end, in this example, a check box “display ofcopy-forgery-inhibited pattern after copying” 3403 for displaying thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image after copying is provided on theuser interface. By entering a checkmark in the check box 3403, the usercan confirm a print image including a copy-forgery-inhibited patternimage that is visualized after copying. In other words, if the check box3403 is not checked, an image of a print before copying thereof, i.e.,an image of a print after being just printed out, is displayed. Thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image displayed at this time comprises alatent-image area and a background-image area. Additionally, when thecheck box “display of copy-forgery-inhibited pattern after copying” 3403is checked, the latent-image area visualized after copying may bedisplayed in a highlighted manner as compared with the case of the checkbox 3403 being not checked. A highlighting method can be realized, forexample, by setting a density level of the latent image visualized aftercopying to be higher than an actual output density level of thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image at the time of preview. With suchhighlighting, the user can more easily visually confirm the areavisualized after copying. Another example of the highlighting method isrealized by blinking the visualized image or by displaying thevisualized image in a more easily recognizable color than the actuallyset print color of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image. Thus, anysuitable highlighting method can be used as long as the highlightingenables the user to more easily visually confirm the image visualizedafter copying as compared with the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern imagebefore copying.

Also, while the above description is made as displaying both the imageto be visualized after copying (i.e., the latent image) and the imagedisappearing or becoming paler after copying (i.e., the backgroundimage) as the print image before copying, the present invention is notlimited to that display mode. It is also possible to display, as theprint image before copying, only the visualized area of thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image, and to display the visualized areain a highlighted manner, as described above, when the check box “displayof copy-forgery-inhibited pattern after copying” 3403 is checked. As analternative, the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image may not bedisplayed in the print image before copying, and the visualized imagemay be displayed when the check box “display of copy-forgery-inhibitedpattern after copying” 3403 is checked.

The above-described display switching function is applicable to not onlythe setting change editor, but also to the previewer 306 shown in FIG.12. That function can be further applied to any other suitable previewdisplay unit to provide similar images in a switching manner.

While the check box “display of copy-forgery-inhibited pattern aftercopying” 3403 is provided in the example of FIG. 25, the user interfacemay be controlled such that the check box 3403 is allowed to functiononly when the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern printing is designated bythe user. For example, the check box “display of copy-forgery-inhibitedpattern after copying” 3403 may be displayed only when thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern printing is designated. Alternatively,the check box 3403 may be grayed out (inactivated) such that the usercannot select it. With such control, userability can be furtherincreased in the preview process of the copy-forgery-inhibited patternimage.

Further, while the example of FIG. 25 employs the check box and the menuas the user interface for displaying the copy-forgery-inhibited patternafter copying, any other suitable user interface can be used as long asdisplay of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image after copying can beselected by the user.

FIG. 26 is a flowchart showing another example of the process ofdisplaying a preview image of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern imagebefore copying and a preview image thereof after copying in a switchingmanner. More specifically, FIG. 26 shows another example of the previewprocess of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image shown in step S3607or S3610 of FIG. 19. Additionally, FIG. 26 represents a process that isexecuted on the premise of a previewer having the above-describedfunction of “display of copy-forgery-inhibited pattern after copying”.In the case not having that function, only the image visualized aftercopying may be drawn in the process of drawing thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image in step S3607 or S3610 of FIG. 19.

First, in step S3611, it is determined whether “display ofcopy-forgery-inhibited pattern after copying” is set by the user. If itis determined in step S3611 that “display of copy-forgery-inhibitedinhibited pattern after copying” is set, processing proceeds to stepS3612 where, of the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image (comprising thelatent image and the background image), only the image visualized aftercopying is drawn in the preview sheet area in accordance with thescale-down factor, which has been calculated in step S3602 of FIG. 19,through the graphics engine 202. That drawing process may be executed soas to highlight the visualized image when displayed, as described above.Processing of FIG. 26 then ends.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S3611 that “display ofcopy-forgery-inhibited inhibited pattern after copying” is not set,processing proceeds to step S3613 where the copy-forgery-inhibitedpattern image (comprising the latent image and the background image) isdrawn.

While the process of drawing the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image isexecuted in step S3613 to display both the image visualized aftercopying (i.e., the latent image) and the image disappearing or becomingpaler after copying (i.e., the background image), the present inventionis not limited to that display mode. It is also possible to display theimage of a print before copying or the image corresponding to a copy ofthe print after copying. In addition, the copy-forgery-inhibited patternimage may not be displayed in the print image. For example, when thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image is not displayed in the printimage, the process of step S3613 is omitted.

Furthermore, in the process of drawing the copy-forgery-inhibitedpattern image, as mentioned above, meta data as a basis for producingthe copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image is scaled down to be matchedwith the display area instead of scaling down the copy-forgery-inhibitedpattern image in a grid of dots, following which thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image for preview is produced based onthe scaled-down image. Processing of FIG. 26 then ends.

According to each of the embodiments of the present invention, asdescribed above, the user can easily recognize, e.g., the state of thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image being added to the document data,and the state of a copy obtained by copying a print including thecopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image.

As a result, with preview in the copy-forgery-inhibited patternprinting, the user can easily confirm whether the intendedcopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image is properly added to the image tobe output for printing.

Other Embodiments

The present invention can be applied to not only a system comprisingplural units of equipment (such as a host computer, an interface unit, areader, and a printer), but also to a device comprising one unit ofequipment (such as a copier, a printer, or a facsimile).

The embodiments are described above on the premise of the presentinvention being implemented by a host computer. However, when theprocess of producing the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image can beexecuted in a copier or a printer, a preview is displayed on a controlscreen prepared in the copier or the printer.

A storage medium, which stores program code of software for realizingrespective steps of the flowcharts shown in the drawings to implementthe functions of any of the above-described embodiments, may be providedto a system or an apparatus, and cause a computer (central processingunit (CPU) or micro-processing unit (MPU)) in the system or theapparatus to read and execute the program code stored in the storagemedium.

Storage media for storing and providing the program code may be, e.g.,floppy disks, hard disks, optical disks, magneto-optical disks, compactdisk-read-only memory (CD-ROM), compact disk-recordable (CD-R), magnetictapes, nonvolatile memory cards, and ROM.

Also, the functions of any of the above-described embodiments arerealized not only by a computer executing program code read out of thestorage medium, but also by an Operating System (OS) or the like whichis running in the computer and executes a part or the whole of theactual processing in accordance with commands from the program code, inorder to realize the functions of any of the above-describedembodiments.

Further, the present invention involves the case in which program coderead out of the storage medium are written in a memory provided in afunction add-on board inserted in the computer or a function add-on unitconnected to the computer, and a CPU or the like incorporated in thefunction add-on board or unit executes a part or the whole of the actualprocessing in accordance with commands from the program code, in orderto realize the functions of any of the above-described embodiments.

In other words, the foregoing description of embodiments has been givenfor illustrative purposes only and not to be construed as imposing anylimitation.

The scope of the invention is, therefore, to be determined solely by thefollowing claims and not limited by the text of the specifications andalterations made within a scope equivalent to the scope of the claimsfall within the true sprit and scope of the invention.

1. An information processing device comprising; a receiving unit whichreceives a character string which is concealed on a print product andappears on a copy product of the print product, wherein the receivedcharacter string is for copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image data; agenerating unit which generates printing data in which dots areconcentrated into masses in a first area and dots are distributed in asecond area and in which either of the first area and the second area isbased on the received character string, such that the print product isproduced by an image forming device; and a display controlling unitwhich controls display of first image data and second image data, suchthat a user recognizes the difference between the print product and thecopy product of the print product, wherein the second image data isdifferent from the first image data, and the received character stringappears in the second image data.
 2. An information processing deviceaccording to claim 1, wherein the received character string does notappear in the first image data.
 3. An information processing deviceaccording to claim 1, wherein the received character string appears morestressed in the second image data than in the first image data.
 4. Aninformation processing device according to claim 1, wherein densitythickness in the first area of the second image data is different thandensity thickness in the second area of the second image data.
 5. Aninformation processing device according to claim 1, wherein the displaycontrolling unit controls display of the first image data and the secondimage data on the display controlling unit after each of the first imagedata and the second image data are combined with document image data. 6.An information processing device according to claim 1, wherein thedisplay controlling unit performs display switching to controldisplaying the first image data or the second image data based on aninstruction from the user.
 7. An information processing device accordingto claim 1, wherein the display controlling unit performs displayswitching to control displaying the first image data or the second imagedata at intervals of a predetermined time.
 8. An information processingdevice according to claim 1, wherein the display controlling unitcontrols display of the first image data and the second image data atthe same time across a boundary.
 9. An information processing deviceaccording to claim 8, wherein the display controlling unit moves theboundary.
 10. An information processing device according to claim 1,wherein the first area is based on the received character string and thesecond area is surrounding the first area in the printing data, andwherein the density thickness of the first area is thicker than thesecond area in the second image data.
 11. An information processingmethod comprising; receiving a character string which is concealed on aprint product and appears on a copy product of the print product,wherein the received character string is for copy-forgery-inhibitedpattern image data; generating printing data in which dots areconcentrated into masses in a first area and dots are distributed in asecond area and in which either of the first area and the second area isbased on the received character string, such that the print product isproduced by an image forming device; and controlling, by a displaycontrolling unit, display of first image data and second image data,such that a user recognizes the difference between the print product andthe copy product of the print product, wherein the second image data isdifferent from the first image data, and the received character stringappears in the second image data.
 12. An information processing methodaccording to claim 11, wherein the received character string does notappear in the first image data.
 13. An information processing methodaccording to claim 11, wherein the received character string appearsmore stressed in the second image data than in the first image data. 14.An information processing method according to claim 11, wherein densitythickness in the first area of the second image data is different thandensity thickness in the second area of the second image data.
 15. Aninformation processing method according to claim 11, wherein the displaycontrolling unit controls display of the first image data and the secondimage data on the display controlling unit after each of the first imagedata and the second image data are combined with document image data.16. An information processing method according to claim 11, wherein thedisplay controlling unit performs display switching to controldisplaying the first image data or the second image data based on aninstruction from the user.
 17. An information processing methodaccording to claim 11, wherein the display controlling unit performsdisplay switching to control displaying the first image data or thesecond image data at intervals of a predetermined time.
 18. Aninformation processing method according to claim 11, wherein the displaycontrolling unit controls display of the first image data and the secondimage data at the same time across a boundary.
 19. An informationprocessing method according to claim 18, wherein the display controllingunit moves the boundary.
 20. An information processing method accordingto claim 11, wherein the first area is based on the received characterstring and the second area is surrounding the first area in the printingdata, and wherein the density thickness of the first area is thickerthan the second area in the second image data.
 21. A computer-readablestorage medium for storing the computer-executable process steps of aninformation processing method comprising: receiving a character stringwhich is concealed on a print product and appears on a copy product ofthe print product, wherein the received character string is forcopy-forgery-inhibited pattern image data; generating printing data inwhich dots are concentrated into masses in a first area and dots aredistributed in a second area and in which either of the first area andthe second area is based on the received character string, such that theprint product is produced by an image forming device; and controllingdisplay of first image data and second image data, such that a userrecognizes the difference between the print product and the copy productof the print product, wherein the second image data is different fromthe first image data, and the received character string appears in thesecond image data.
 22. A computer-readable storage medium according toclaim 21, wherein the received character string does not appear in thefirst image data.
 23. A computer-readable storage medium according toclaim 21, wherein the received character string appears more stressed inthe second image data than in the first image data.